# Manufacturing glossary > Plain-language definitions of 55 manufacturing terms: OEE, takt time, Cpk, PPAP, FMEA, SMED, kanban, MES, MTBF and more. Written for plant owners and supervisors. Source: https://deda.systems/handbook/manufacturing-glossary Last updated: 2026-11-13 55 terms a plant owner hears from customers, auditors and software vendors, **each defined in one or two plain sentences.** Where a term has a formula, the entry links to it. ## The terms - **5S:** A method for organising a workplace so that problems are visible. The five Japanese words are seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shitsuke, usually translated as sort, set in order, shine, standardise and sustain. - **5 Whys:** A root cause technique: ask “why” repeatedly until you reach the cause that, if fixed, stops the problem returning. ASQ credits Sakichi Toyoda with developing it. - **8D:** Eight Disciplines, a structured team method for solving a problem and stopping it recurring, widely used for customer complaints in the automotive supply chain. Customers often ask for an “8D report”. - **Andon:** A visual signal, typically a light or a board, that shows the status of a machine or line and calls for help when there is a problem. - **APQP:** Advanced Product Quality Planning. The automotive industry’s structured process for planning a new part from concept to production. One of the automotive core tools published by AIAG. - **AQL:** Acceptance quality limit. The quality level used to choose a sampling plan for inspecting a lot, as in ISO 2859-1. It is not permission to ship that share of defects. - **Availability:** In OEE, run time divided by planned production time. It falls when the machine is stopped by breakdowns, changeovers or waiting. See the [OEE guide](https://deda.systems/handbook/oee-calculator). - **BOM:** Bill of materials. The list of raw materials, components and quantities needed to make one unit of a product. - **Bottleneck:** The step in a process with the least capacity. It sets the output of the whole process, so an hour lost there is an hour lost for the plant. - **Changeover:** The work of switching a machine from one product to the next, measured from the last good part of the old job to the first good part of the new one. Also called setup. - **Control plan:** A document that lists, for each process step, what is checked, how, how often and what to do when a check fails. Required in automotive supply. - **Cp and Cpk:** Process capability indices. Cp compares the tolerance width with the process spread. Cpk also accounts for how well the process is centred. See [the formulas](https://deda.systems/handbook/shop-floor-formulas#cpk). - **Cycle time:** The time required to make one part or complete one operation, as measured on the floor. Ideal cycle time is the fastest the machine can achieve for that part. - **DPMO:** Defects per million opportunities. Defects divided by units times opportunities per unit, times one million. - **Downtime:** Time when a machine was planned to run but did not. Planned stops such as breaks are usually reported separately. - **FIFO:** First in, first out. Using or shipping the oldest stock first, so material does not age in the stores. - **First pass yield (FPY):** The share of units that pass a process step correctly the first time, with no scrap and no rework. - **FMEA:** Failure Mode and Effects Analysis. A structured way to list how a design or process could fail, how serious each failure would be, and what will prevent or detect it. An automotive core tool. - **GRN:** Goods receipt note. The record made when purchased material arrives, used to update stock and to match against the purchase order and the supplier’s invoice. - **IATF 16949:** The quality management system standard for the automotive supply chain, published by the International Automotive Task Force. It is used together with ISO 9001, not on its own. - **ISO 9001:** The international standard for quality management system requirements, published by ISO. Certificates are issued by accredited certification bodies, not by ISO itself. - **Job card:** The record of what happened at one operation of a work order: machine, operator, times, quantities and stops. A [template is here](https://deda.systems/handbook/job-card-template). - **Kaizen:** Continuous, incremental improvement involving the people who do the work. - **Kanban:** A signal, originally a card, that tells the previous operation to supply more material only when it is needed. - **Lead time:** The time a product takes to move through the whole process from start to finish, including waiting. In everyday use it also means the time from order to delivery. - **MES:** Manufacturing execution system. Software that manages and records production on the floor: dispatching jobs, tracking output, quality and stops. It sits between the machines and the ERP. - **MRP:** Material requirements planning. Calculating what material is needed, and when, from the production plan, the bill of materials and current stock. - **MSA:** Measurement Systems Analysis. Studies that check whether a gauge and the people using it measure consistently enough to be trusted, such as a gauge R&R study. An automotive core tool. - **MTBF:** Mean time between failures. Total operating time divided by the number of failures. - **MTTR:** Mean time to repair. Total repair time divided by the number of repairs. - **MTConnect:** An open, royalty-free standard that gives manufacturing equipment data a common vocabulary so software can read it the same way from different machines. See [machine data collection](https://deda.systems/handbook/machine-data-collection). - **OEE:** Overall equipment effectiveness. Availability × Performance × Quality: the share of planned production time spent making good parts at full speed. See the [OEE calculator](https://deda.systems/handbook/oee-calculator). - **OPC UA:** OPC Unified Architecture. A platform-independent standard for exchanging industrial data, published by the OPC Foundation and as IEC 62541. - **PDCA:** Plan, do, check, act. A four-step cycle for improvement, also called the Shewhart cycle or the Deming cycle. - **Performance:** In OEE, how fast the machine ran compared with its ideal cycle time: ideal cycle time times total count, divided by run time. - **PLC:** Programmable logic controller. The industrial computer that controls a machine or a line. - **Poka-yoke:** Mistake-proofing. A device or design that makes an error impossible, or makes it obvious the moment it happens. - **PPAP:** Production Part Approval Process. The package of evidence an automotive supplier submits to show that its process can make a part to the customer’s requirements. An automotive core tool. - **Predictive maintenance:** Maintenance done when measured condition, such as vibration, temperature or current, shows that a failure is developing. - **Preventive maintenance:** Maintenance done on a schedule, by time or by usage, to reduce the chance of a breakdown. - **Quality:** In OEE, good count divided by total count, where a good part is one that was right the first time. - **Rework:** Correcting a defective part so that it meets the requirement. A reworked part is not a good part for first pass yield or OEE. - **Routing:** The sequence of operations, machines and standard times needed to make a part. - **Scrap:** Material or parts that cannot be used or corrected and are discarded. - **Seven wastes:** The seven kinds of waste identified by Taiichi Ohno of Toyota: overproduction, waiting, transport, overprocessing, inventory, motion and defects. An eighth, unused talent, is often added. - **Six big losses:** The six causes of lost equipment effectiveness in TPM: equipment failure, setup and adjustments, idling and minor stops, reduced speed, process defects and reduced yield. - **SMED:** Single-Minute Exchange of Die. A method, credited to Shigeo Shingo, for cutting changeover time. “Single-minute” means a single-digit number of minutes, under ten. - **SOP:** Standard operating procedure. The written, agreed way of doing a task. - **SPC:** Statistical Process Control. Using control charts to tell normal process variation from a real change that needs action. An automotive core tool. - **Takt time:** Available production time divided by customer demand: the pace at which units must be finished to meet demand. - **TEEP:** Total effective equipment performance. OEE multiplied by utilisation, measured against all calendar time. - **TPM:** Total Productive Maintenance. An approach in which operators and maintenance staff share responsibility for keeping equipment effective. OEE is its main measure. - **Traceability:** The ability to follow a part back to its material batch, machine, operator and inspection records, and forward to the customer who received it. - **WIP:** Work in progress. Material that has been issued to production but is not yet finished goods. - **Work order:** The instruction to make a given quantity of a part by a given date. Also called a production order. ## Where this comes from > The formulas and definitions on this page are the standard published ones. These are the references we checked them against. If you find an error, write to [deep@deda.systems](mailto:deep@deda.systems) and we will correct it. - [ASQ Quality Glossary](https://asq.org/quality-resources/quality-glossary). Quality terms including 5S, kaizen, kanban, PDCA and first pass yield. - [Lean Enterprise Institute, Lean Lexicon](https://www.lean.org/lexicon-terms/). Lean terms including takt time, cycle time, SMED and the seven wastes. - [AIAG](https://www.aiag.org/quality/quality-core-tools). Publisher of the automotive core tools: APQP, PPAP, FMEA, MSA and SPC. - [International Automotive Task Force](https://www.iatfglobaloversight.org/). IATF 16949. - Seiichi Nakajima, *Introduction to TPM: Total Productive Maintenance*, Productivity Press, 1988. OEE, TPM and the six big losses.